In between trims - hoof care...

[Bleenie]

These are the hooves of one of my rescue girls. She came to me with awful feet and the farrier came out ASAP to take care of them and did an awesome job. Were currently in between trims and I've noticed some overgrowth in the frogs on this mare. Farrier watned me it would probably happen because her feet are so messed up. But the farrier is currently unavailable and I'm wondering what I can do to manage them in between trims. I tried my best to correct them a little and even them out but I'm hesitant to do more than just a little at a time.

I am certain my other two mares need trimmed again but their hooves are amazing compared to this girls.

Side by side pic is before and after her first trim, the other hoof pics are from yesterday.

 

[MindyLee]

In all honesty...

I would leave them be. They do need to be addressed but with the looks of founder being present, you don't want to over work the foot to much in such a short time. Unfortunately more damage can be caused if taking to much off so quickly after the 1st trim.

I'm personally not crazy with that trim and how it looks but it is a good start on removal. It needs a lot of work and I think you getting in there could make it worse. Just my opinion.

Koddoos for saving her. She looks like a sweetie.

 

[shorthorsemom]

It can take a year for the hooves to recover and respond normally to trims by growing correctly.

Do not let more than 5 weeks go by between trims and eventually when all that hoof grows down and stops throwing flares and growing extra frog things will settle down. Extra frog is not necessarily a bad thing. Frog is padding is good for the feet. Keep the feet clean so you don't get thrush. Your horse was walking on her heels with the hoof growth I see prior to your first trim . It will take a long time for her legs to adjust to her new set of feet. Picture you walking around for years in high heels and somebody comes along and knocks off your heels and then you have to adjust to walking on flats. Your legs would be tired and muscles sore and it would feel so different... same as with the horses that need extreme trimming due to considerable overgrowth following founder. You might consider an xray (if you haven't already done so) to see where the bone is in relationship to the sole of the foot and see how much rotation you have. I would not want to do any more extreme trimming without xrays if that were my horse. You do not want the situation where the bone pops through the bottom of the hoof.

It is amazing she is still alive, she must be extra special to stay sweet and she is lucky to have found someone to care for her needs. It can be a long road dealing with rescue animals. take care and best wishes.

Ps. I do nothing between trims on my horses. There are folks that do their own trimming and feel comfortable. I am not one of those folks comfortable with trimming my own horses.

I have a great relationship with my farrier. It works for me.

I don't think those feet look too bad considering the awful way they looked prior to the trim. Give it some time and stay on top of your retrims. These things do not correct overnight in horses that have foundered. My one horse took time to recover and his feet were in perfect trim shape when he foundered.

 

[lkblazin]

I would leave it till your farrier can come out. Many things can go wrong. If your interested in learning to trim there feet yourself, then he may be willing to teach you. My mom was taught by our old farrier who then passed it on to me. So I now do the feet my girls. ( warning minis r back killers)

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I used to try and work on mine between farrier visits but soon learned there is more to it than meets the eye. Now I don't do anything but keep them clean between visits. But I do have mine out every 4 -5 weeks.

If you think there is something you should do between visits, ask your farrier and have him show you.

Good luck.

 

[Kim P]

You say founder is present in the hoof. Tell me why you know that. I need to know what to look for. Please explain the picture to me.

 

[shorthorsemom]

It isn't that "founder is present in the hoof". To me this horse looks to have foundered in the past in addition to going a long time since her last hoof trim in her former home.

Horses with neglected feet post founder can get that "elf shoe look to them and abnormal growth of the hoof and the toe points upward like in the "before" photo. If you click on the photo and view closely you can see that the horses bottom of her hoof is not actually on the ground but rather pointing forward and upward and the horse is on her heels totally. In the after photo you can see how her farrier is working to correct this mare and she has had a good bit of hoof trimmed off.

If she had active laminitis and founder now she would be very lame and the feet would be hot and she would have a digital pulse. Since the mare has a normal topline and is not roaching her back and the poster has not described her as being in pain, my thoughts were that she had foundered sometime in the past and recovered and now the owner is working with the farrier to get the horses hooves trimmed down properly to bring them back toward normal.

Typically when you see the hoof growing upward like that, if you could see inside the hoof you will see that the bone may have rotated downward inside that hoof. Not always, but typically this can happen which is why I was asking if she had xrays yet. Xrays can help the farrier too.

Those before and after photos are excellent to view and study and thank you to bleenie for sharing and best wishes.

I have sprayed horses feet with dilute Lysol around the frogs. You put just a little bit (like a tspoon) of Lysol in a sprayer and add water. Stinks , I hate the smell of Lysol, but it can be good to wash the feet and around the frog if you horse starts to get any black goo around the frog between trims. That is all I would do at this point and let the farrier do the rest, he can educate you on his visits if you ask.

 

[shorthorsemom]

PS, bleenie... that mare is adorable. I love her face, she has a kind eye and is very pretty. best wishes to you both.

 

[Kim P]

Thanks bleenie and short horse mom. My farrier was supposed to come last week but did not show up. I was just wondering bc wishbones two back hooves seem to be growing fast. They are kinda pointy but not growing up just slanted pointing down and long.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Lots of horses grow more toe than heel and then again lots of horses grow tons of heel and without proper trims can look like they are walking on tin cans. Every horse is different, and there are so many factors.. length of time between trims, surface the horse walks on, moisture in ground, genetics and post founder and laminitis feet.

Improvements in diet can also make hooves grow quickly. A decent farrier can work wonders. A bad farrier can be a nightmare.

According to my farrier on minis minor adjustments equals major impact and so it can often be a little trickier trimming the hooves on our little horses. I prefer to leave my minis hooves alone and stick with hiring someone to do the job. There are many folks successfully trimming their own horses. I watch my farrier closely and each time he comes I say..."see you next time" . My guys have lovely balanced healthy feet, but there was a time when I was using another farrier that my horses feet got awful so I have seen both sides of the coin..

 

[Kim P]

Well I don't know a good farrier from bad so I may take some before pics of their hooves and after(if he comes) and post on here and get an experienced opinion. He may have lost my number since I am a new customer.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Kim a good farrier will attend the appointment once booked and not put you off. I had a farrier like that once, he cancelled and tried to postpone so often that I got rid of him.

A good farrier will also talk to you about the individual hooves as he is trimming them and why he is trimming them like he/she is. My little mare who is recovering from laminitis and has foundered recently is having her feet trimmed differently to the others. My farrier also explained this as he was trimming her and the reasons behind it. I already knew how she should be trimmed from learning as a child from a foundered pony, but appreciated his explanation as he worked away...

Please don't be disheartened if it takes a couple of farriers before you are 100% happy with the farrier you have/ find. I am sure there are others on here that went thru a few farriers before finding one they are happy with.

 

[Kim P]

Thanks Ryan.

 

[MindyLee]

Im my counties mini horse/goat farrier. Been doing it over 10 years. Its funny to know every clients horses feet are done before my own horses feet. Lol

But I have a lot of respect here and know my clients are very satisfied with me. There's been a few times I've been fired or where I fire them myself... But otherwise, I love doing it.

I trim a lot of founder and horses with laminitas and feel bad for the horses but all I can do is try and help educate the owners on proper horse care and how to make them conferrable. Most do right for the animals... And other don't care.

Your a good horse mamma to care and get her feet back in healthy shape!

 

[Bleenie]

Thank you all for the input. I've sent the farrier pictures and waiting for a reply. She is AMAZING and very explanatory while she works. She wanted to how this girl as much relief as possible right away and that's why the trim was so extreme. It's hard to tell in the pics but the hooves are a tad deformed, one back good is really skinny compared to the rest as well. This mare, along with her sister, had both previously foundered, the hoof was gross inside. I'd never seen a foundered hoof(inside) before so was quite intrigued by what it does to the lamina. This mare when from hobbling around to a full on RUN AND KICK after I put her back in te field when the farrier was done! She's been doing amazing and I've even checking all 3(they came together) almost daily for any signs in the hoof of founder/laminitis. Partly because of their history but mostly because they've been on pasture since we've had them and I read some bad things about that. I have had no issues this far though. They were being fed alfalfa and grain at their previous home and I'm sure that's how the hoof problems started.

 

[Bleenie]

The other two mares have more normal hooves and the regular growth... Getting longer in the toe and a bit wider but nothing that looks bad. The youngest who was quite overweight recently had a 58lb rider on her and didn't even flinch at the weight.

I know it will take time for her hooves to get correct but the farrier had some good plans for her. There were parts of the hoof that needed to grow down to correct he overall shape so they did look a bit awkward after the initial trim.